Mark Few was talking generically about teams that hope to - but aren't certain they will - receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. He very well could have been speaking to the anxiety specific to Cal and St. Mary's backers this weekend.

"It's up to just 10 individuals in a room," the Gonzaga head coach said last Sunday in Las Vegas, "and who knows what they're thinking."

A day later, one of those 10 individuals in a room, WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich, tried to shed some light on the selection process. Zaninovich is in his second year on the selection committee.

His responsibilities have included monitoring seven conferences - the ACC, Big Sky, Big West, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Southland and WAC - since the start of the season in November.

And speaking of conferences, Zaninovich insists that no one speaks of them in determining the 37 at-large bids.

"It's never even mentioned," Zaninovich said. "I have never heard the two words 'conference RPI' used."

Zaninovich left Las Vegas, the site of the WCC tournament, on Tuesday to go to Indianapolis for the selection task. Once the process began Wednesday, the members nominated about 25 teams to be in the field, no matter what else happened the rest of the week.

Each of those teams goes to a vote; if the team receives two or fewer "nays," it is part of the field. Some of those teams later become automatic qualifiers by winning a conference tournament.

The members then suggest teams to be "under consideration." Each team that receives at least three "yea" votes stays in the pool of at-large candidates.

Zaninovich, as the commissioner of the conference, can't do any persuading when a WCC team is being considered for inclusion in the field (think St. Mary's) or for which seed it should receive (think Gonzaga).

"It's an easy process," he said. "No one even says anything. ... You just leave the room. I go next door, where we have a bunch of TVs, and I watch other games until a staffer comes by and says (I) can come back."

The final seven or so at-large spots become the thorniest decisions for the committee members.

"Everything is relative," Zaninovich said. "I think that's what a lot of the bracketologists sort of forget. You can't look at a resume in absolute.

"We don't put a team sheet - which is how we evaluate the teams - and say, 'OK, should they be in?' No, it's, 'Give me Team A, B and C and I want to see them side by side.' "

Considering the amount of work a committee member has to do, in essence, on a volunteer basis and considering how much inevitable blowback there is from schools that believe they were treated unjustly, why would Zaninovich want to be one of those 10 individuals in a room?

"If you're a basketball fanatic like I am," Zaninovich said, "being able to dedicate yourself to something you love and having, (in) whatever small role it is, some impact on the game more broadly (is the reward).

"The NCAA staff and the nine other people on the committee are so dedicated to the event, to the game of basketball, it's inspiring to be part of it."